Grace Ties
by LimeyJellyBean
Summary: Dean gets hit by a witch's spell, and when Cas tries to fix it, it goes wrong with wonderful consequences. Eventual Destiel, so rating will change.
1. Chapter 1

"CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSS!" The ear piercing wail broke through the silence as cleanly as a knife through butter, and Castiel flinched as it reached his ears. "CAAAAAAAASS!" He sighed, the noise bringing himself out of his thoughts and he stood up, stretching before he met the source of the wail. Turning, Castiel saw the small fledgling trying its hardest to get out of the playpen that he had made appear to accommodate it, annoyance plastered all over its face.

"Cas...!" The wail had subsided into a sad whimper, and Castiel felt his heart sink. He sighed again, and wandered over to the fledgling whose face lit up at the thought of getting attention.

"Cas!" It was then that his resolve gave out, and he lifted the small fledgling out of the playpen, holding him close to his chest. Small hands grabbed the lapels of his trenchcoat and tried to push itself further into Castiel's chest, small wings trying their hardest to wrap themselves around the older angel. A smile crossed his lips, for the first time since he could recall, and he pressed his face into the fledgling's hair.

"Cas... Where's Sammy?" Castiel's smile faltered for a moment, but he was certain that the fledgling hadn't noticed.

"Sam went on a different hunt... Do you remember? You were hunting a witch and required my assistance, Dean." Dean looked up from his position in Cas' arms, the small wings on his back no longer trying to wrap themselves around him. Castiel could almost see Dean's bottom lip start to tremble, and he knew that if something wasn't done quickly then the power behind the wail would hurt. He looked down as Dean looked up again, tears almost brimming over and Castiel did the only thing he could think of at that moment. He placed a reassuring hand on the chocolate, toffee and white coloured wings and pulled Dean in as close as he could without hurting him. Dean giggled, squirming and flapping the wings as best he could whilst Castiel held him, and Castiel could feel himself smiling. He let his grip slacken and Dean looked up at him again, his own smile on his face. It was only just seen before Dean buried his face into the trenchcoat again, and Castiel could feel the grace passing between the two of them.

"Cas?"

"Yes, Dean?"

"Wove you, Cas." He faltered. Words that as a normal human would never have passed the hunter's lips said so freely as a small fledgling, and they tugged on Castiel's heartstrings. Words that meant so much to the older angel, that he knew would never be said once Dean was fixed. Castiel gave Dean an almighty squeeze, kissing the top of his hair before finding the courage to return the words.

"I love you too, Dean." He smiled, then squirmed again, and Castiel knew he wanted to be put down. He tottered away, the small wings allowing him to do so without falling over until he sat down, finding something interesting in the weave of the motel carpet. Castiel watched the whole thing until he knew Dean would not want to be disturbed, and turned to the books that littered the table. He had to find a way to fix what the witch had done, and the memory of that particular hunt was one he wished he could forget...

* * *

_**Two days earlier...**_

"Cas, look out!" Castiel turned his head to look where Dean was, only to find himself flying into a pile of boxes stacked against the wall of the warehouse, leaving an angel shaped dent in the wall. The witch stalked towards him, igniting the ring of holy oil that he had conveniently landed in without saying a word, a malicious grin on her face. Castiel stood, watching her move then looked past her, noticing Dean creeping up behind her, knife in hand. The witch noticed Castiel looking past her, and turned to face the Hunter, grabbing his throat and lifting him off the floor with ease. She began to chant, eyes glazing over and Dean struggled as hard as he could, both to get free and for air.

"Dean!" Castiel moved as close as he dared to the flames, powerless to watch as the witch worked her magic on Dean, enveloping him in a sickly green coloured fog. "DEAN!" It was then that she dropped him, green fog following him and keeping him in the cloud so Castiel couldn't see him. He did, however, notice the arm that shot up, catching her unaware and resulting in a knife plunged hilt deep into her chest, shattering the glassy look and causing her to explode into a green mist not dissimilar in colour to the cloud surrounding Dean. The holy oil was extinguished, and Castiel ran to where the Hunter had been dropped, the cloud dissipating as soon as he was within touching distance.

"Dean, can you hear me? Dean!" The Hunter was lay on his back, unmoving, and Castiel could only just feel the life force keeping him alive. It was times like this that he was thankful for the profound bond they shared, but it now scared him as he knew Dean was perilously close to death. He lifted Dean into his arms and flew them back to the motel room, the Impala parked where she had been before they set off, and Castiel set about trying to fix whatever damage the witch had done. He gingerly placed two fingers to Dean's forehead, trying to assess whatever damage had been done, but Castiel couldn't feel anything. He sighed, sitting back on the bed that Dean was lay on and watched, waiting for any sign of consciousness that was welcome to make an appearance any time now. He waited for a couple of minutes, looking for any changes in any part of Dean that would let him know he was near waking up, but nothing happened and he moved to one of the chairs in the motel room, letting his mind wander whilst keeping an eye on Dean.

It was five hours before Dean came back round, consciousness hitting him like a tonne of bricks and alerting Castiel with the groan that escaped the hunter. He sat up slowly, head in hands, then quickly doubled over as pain racked his abdomen, and he barely made it to the bathroom before the pain became so much that he was whimpering.

"Dean! Dean!" Castiel banged on the bathroom door, but his cries were muffled by Dean's screams which abruptly stopped. The silence was unnerving and seemed to last forever until a sad whimper broke it. Castiel leaned closer to the door, trying to determine what could make a noise like that when it happened again, accompanied by the sound of sniffling.

"Dean...?" Castiel slowly opened the door, expecting to see Dean holding whatever was making the noise at gunpoint. Instead, he found a small child no more than four years old looking up at him, eyes red with tears and swimming in the clothes that Dean had been wearing before he rushed into the bathroom. He whimpered, and then Castiel knew where the noise had come from. He looked down again, and the child moved towards him, wrapping small arms around his leg and looking up expectantly.

"Cas..." Dean made an 'up' motion with his arms, and Castiel's expression turned to one of alarm. He didn't know how to deal with human children, but he had a rough idea of how to deal with fledglings, so he picked Dean up, holding him awkwardly. Dean squirmed until Castiel held him properly, noting how much more comfortable it made holding him. Dean looked up at Castiel, who still looked panicked, and gently headbutted the angel's chest in a comforting gesture.

"'t's oday, Cas. You're magic, you cab mend it."

"I'm not magic, Dean. Magic did this to you, I'm an Angel of the Lord."

"Angels are magic, Cas. You'll make me big again." A yawn made the last part of the sentence almost indecipherable, but Castiel understood what the yawn meant. "Jus' try this." Dean reached up to place two fingers on Castiel's forehead, and he knew what was trying to be said.

"I don't know if that will work-" Dean moved his fingers from forehead to lips and headbutted Castiel again.

"Jus' try Cas. Pwease." Castiel looked down at the de-aged Dean, who held nothing but hope in his eyes, and the angel could feel it. He desperately wanted Dean back to normal, but didn't know how far the witch's spell reached. Castiel sighed, again, and gently placed his fingers on Dean's forehead, almost willing his DNA to revert, his molecules to switch back to adult form. He felt something inside Dean pull away when Castiel's grace reached in to help, but Castiel ignored it and tried to find what it was. A tendril of grace brushed past whatever it was, causing a feeling like electricity to pass back up through it and Castiel yelped, almost dropping Dean.

"Cas?" Big eyes looked back up at him, and then they closed, Dean having drifted off into sleep from being on the receiving end of grace. Castiel gently placed him on one of the motel beds, but Dean's now small hands had the trenchcoat in a vice-like grip, so Castiel lay down first, allowing Dean to curl up with a thumb in his mouth on his chest. He watched carefully as Dean slept with no need of his own to sleep, but did so anyway without noticing. If anyone were to come into their motel room, they would just think it was a father taking care of his infant son.


	2. Chapter 2

Castiel woke the next morning with the feeling of something tickling his nostrils, a soft feeling that felt familiar but he couldn't place it. He also felt an absence, sitting up quickly and nearly flinging Dean off his chest, who wasn't actually sat on him at all. Castiel stared at him, eyes wide with shock at the sight he was seeing, and Dean didn't seem to notice.

"Cas! Look what I got!" Dean span around, giving Castiel a full view of what was keeping him in the air, and Castiel's stare got impossibly wider.

"How...?"

"Aren't they awesome, Cas? Now I jus' like you!" Dean let himself fall onto Castiel, knocking the wind out of him, but Dean just hugged the angel as hard as he could. Castiel didn't know how to respond, sat staring at Dean in what could only be described as wide eyed disbelief. He didn't even realise Dean had started poking him to get his attention.

"Cas... What's wrong, Cas?"

"Dean, how did this happen?" Dean shrugged his shoulders, causing the new appendages to give him a small amount of lift that greatly reduced the pressure on Castiel's chest.

"Dunno..." Dean mumbled his response, turning away from Castiel but was stopped. Now Dean looked alarmed, fear in his eyes as he desperately tried to figure out what he'd done wrong. Castiel noticed, stopping looking at Dean's back long enough to recognise the look of fear etched onto the young boy's face and before Dean knew what was going on, Castiel had pulled him into a tight hug. Dean squirmed, trying to get away from Castiel but failed rather miserably.

"Let me go, Cas! Let me go!" Dean's now high pitched voice next to Castiel's ear was not something he had been expecting, quickly letting go of Dean in a vain attempt to stop his ears from hurting. He rubbed the inside of it in an attempt to stop it from ringing, looking at Dean with his usual calm expression.

"Dean. I am sorry, I am not angry with you, and I apologise for making you think that. I only wish to know how you gained wings, as you are not an angel." Dean had his back to Castiel, the wings in a position that told the older angel the de-aged hunter was upset.

"I dunno. You tried to fix me, an' I fell asleep, an' I waked up like you... You maked be better, Cas!" Castiel ran over these events in his head, remembering his grace brushing against something within Dean and the feeling of electricity that accompanied it. Then it hit him - the something had to have been whatever the witch left behind to affect Dean, and an invasion of grace had altered the spell so rather than just de-aging the hunter, it had turned him into a fledgling. Castiel hit himself in the forehead in realisation, making Dean jump again and giving him more lift that he had before.

"The witch! Her spell... My grace changed it, instead of just de-aging you, it gave you wings, turned you into a fledgling..." Castiel's voice trailed off towards the end of the explanation, stopping pacing after realising he'd started. Dean just followed the movements with his eyes, falling back onto the bed that the older angel had vacated whilst staring intently.

"It's my fault you're like this, Dean. I couldn't stop the witch, and when I tried to heal you, I did this instead. I'm sorry-" Dean's hand over Castiel's mouth stopped his rant, taking Castiel by suprise. He could feel Dean experimenting with the bit of grace that had passed over, trying to reassure Castiel as best he could, but the nerves of not knowing what to do passed over easier.

"It's not your fault Cas. Pwease, dop saying it. It was an akident, you didn't mean it." Then Dean succeed in getting his borrowed grace to do what he wanted, a feeling of reassurance washing over Castiel and he stopped worrying, slightly in awe that Dean had quickly managed to manipulate it. "We can fix it, jus' wiv books not magic." Castiel nodded, still feeling calm after Dean's experimentation, and tried to think which books would best be needed to fix their current situation.

* * *

"Cas?" Dean stared up at Castiel with wide eyes, drawing him out of the memories of the first day and night of Dean being a fledgling, and Castiel automatically picked him up.

"Yes, Dean?"

"Where are your wings?" With this higher vantage point, Dean began to poke the air blindly just behind Castiel's shoulders, trying to connect with something solid and failing. "I wanna see them Cas, why are they hiding?"

"They are not hiding. They are there, you just cannot see them." Dean looked up at Castiel with big eyes again, and he noticed that they were similar to the ones Sam gave - he also found himself bending to a will behind a question that was yet to be asked.

"Can I see them? Wait, I won't get an ouch from seeing like Pam did, Cas?" Castiel laughed gently to himself, shaking his head in the process.

"No - the grace that lets you have wings will stop you getting an 'ouch'." Big eyes were turned to him again, and he saved Dean the bother of asking. The air around Castiel's shoulder seemed to melt as his wings were brought into vision, and a lamp suffered as a wing crashed into it. Dean looked at Castiel, then to the broken lamp and back again, eyes wide in amazement before breaking down into giggles at the carelessness of the older angel.

"You gave the lamp an ouch Cas!" Castiel turned to see what Dean was on about, frowning when he saw the broken lamp on the floor. He extended his arm with his eyes closed, moving the lamp back to its original position and fixing it in the process. Dean gasped in amazement, giggles stopped sharply when Castiel's arm extended.

"Can I do that?" Castiel nodded, and Dean looked almost longingly at the now fixed lamp.

"No, Dean. We are trying to fix you, not make you more of an angel." He pouted and started to squirm, but Castiel held tighter and moved his own wings to try and distract him. Dean watched more intently as they moved, and craned his neck to get a better look as they wrapped around him. He slowly extended a hand to them, looking back at Castiel before touching them for approval to do so, and the older angel nodded. A small jolt similar to the feeling of electricity passed up Dean's arm as it connected with Castiel's feathers, and up Castiel's wing causing him to retract it just out of Dean's reach. He looked up at the older angel with wide eyes, confusion and wonder etched onto his face at the same time.

"What was dat Cas?" Confusion worked its way onto Castiel's face to almost mirror Dean's.

"I don't know." Dean took this as a good enough answer and tried to reach Castiel's wing again, moaning when he just missed it.

"Caas...!" He moved his wing back into Dean's reach, and the feeling of electricity happened again but Castiel didn't move this time. "They nice Cas. Why you hide dem?" Castiel hesitated.

"They should not be... Black... They were damaged rescuing you from Hell, now other angels scorn them for what they went through." Dean absentmindedly ran his hand over the feathers he could reach, trying to manipulate the grace he had to let Castiel know what he thought of them.

"They pretty Cas. Other angels are silly." Dean yawned, pulling himself closer to Castiel's chest and wrapping his own wings around himself. "Tired, Cas."

"Okay, Dean." He hid his wings again, giving the lamp a dirty look before placing Dean on one of the motel beds. He sighed, turning to the pile of books that littered the table to resume his search to how to get Dean back to normal.


	3. Chapter 3

**I'd like to post an apology**

**Finding it difficult at the moment to get 'Grace Ties' to progress any further with persistent college work and work in general, updates are slow and not very long. I will try to sort it, but until then, hopefully a bit of understanding can go a long way, and all you lovely people can have an updated story that isn't short and the same chapter x**

**Thank you. **


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